1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to the field of wood burning heaters and, more particularly, to an automatically controlled outdoor heating unit that uses wood pellets or other pelletized fuel.
2. Description of the Related Art
Free standing outdoor wood burning heaters have been available for a number of years. The heater set forth by the present inventor in U.S. Pat. No. 4,360,003 uses wood logs or sections thereof as fuel and has a combustion chamber to burn the wood. The heat generated by the burning wood is transferred to water in a tank that substantially surrounds the combustion chamber. The hot water is then utilized for household use or to provide heat for a home heating system.
With the availability of a wider range of pelletized fuels in recent years, as well as advances in control systems, a need exists for an improved heating unit that is able to utilize these pelletized fuels and provide improved performance features through the use of an automatic control system. A further need is for a unit that is more environmentally friendly by virtue of its use of a by-product or waste product as fuel and also by its greater ability of particulate recovery resulting in significantly reduced emissions.